Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa has accused businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei of being delusional following a series of rallies in Harare that are being viewed as a subtle campaign to succeed President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Tagwirei, who has been bankrolling Zanu PF for years, is said to be Mnangagwa’s preferred successor ahead of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga.
He was coopted into the Zanu PF central committee ahead of the party’s annual conference in October and since then he has thrust himself into the succession matrix through the rallies in Harare province.
A fortnight ago, Mutsvangwa criticised Tagwirei for making certain policy pronouncements, which he said were Mnangagwa’s prerogative.
He also slammed the businessman for allegedly campaigning to succeed the president and said those aspiring to take over from the 83 year-old leader to wait for the Zanu PF congress in 2027.
Zanu PF Harare province, however, defied the directive last week and hosted an inter district rally at Ru faro Stadium that was addressed by Tagwirei.
Mutsvangwa said the businessman was selling an “illusion” and warned that there would come a time when his campaigns are stopped.
“He was selling an illusion, which is delusion and very soon the falsehoods he is selling to the crowds will catch up with him,” he said referring to the Rufaro rally.
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“He does not have the capacity to bribe the whole electorate with cars and vehicles.
“The only person who has the capacity to lure people is the president through the Finance Ministry with a budget of billions every five years. “But he still gets 55 to 60% of the vote. What is US$1.6 billion we hear Tagwirei has poured in. It’s a pittance.
“His financial grandstanding is a joke.”
He said Tagwirei’s money, which he gets through government tenders would soon dry up and he would not be to fulfil the grand promises he is making to the electorate.
The Sakunda has been making pledges running into millions of dollars at the rallies. People are also lured to the rallies with promises of food hampers.
He promised to deliver 12 500 food hampers, a promise that is yet to be fulfilled. At a Zone 3 meeting only 1 000 hampers were delivered, which was a drop in the ocean as 12 000 people turned up for the rally.
Some top Zanu PF insiders say Tagwirei will need to cash out his treasury bills (TBs) to be liquid and meet his promises, but the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been strict on the use of the financial instrument to protect the local currency.
“TBs redemption has underpinned his vaunted wealth. He has been absent in the sinews of the national economy like the leaf tobacco, SME gold and Steel,” Mutsvangwa said.
“Tagwirei has been a finance rentier rather than wealth creator.”
Tagwirei is said to be planning to take his campaigns outside Harare using the cover of the Land Implementation Committee, which he chairs.
Mutsvangwa said the title deeds programme launched by Mnangagwa last year was being used in an attempt to reverse the land reform programme by someone harbouring presidential ambitions.
“The original politburo meeting that discussed the title deeds programme was prioritising on urban areas and securing of houses built by individuals and developers,” Mutsvangwa said.
“For his own reasons, he has shifted to resettled land post epochal land reform of 2000.”
The title deeds scheme, launched by Mnangagwa in 2023 in Epworth saw over 350 residents getting title deeds before turning to rural areas under the guise of providing farmers with legal land ownership, security, and the ability to use their land as collateral to access credit.
“The paradox is that, (Tagwirei) organises a rally, which requires a permit from the police which is part of the state which is administered by Mnangagwa,” the Zanu PF spokesperson said.
“What will he do the day the permit is denied like it was to others like Nelson Chamisa (former Citizens Coalition for Change president), and others.
“What will be the recourse if the one who owns the State denies him a chance to organise the rally.
“You are only given the stage by the state, the head of state who is elected, that state was born from the liberation struggle.
“You knock your heard against the state apparatus at your own political peril.”
This is not the first time Mutsvangwa has attacked Tagwirei.
In August, he launched a tirade against Tagwirei, claiming he got his riches from Zanu PF and the party has the capacity to frustrate him.
Mutsvangwa then launched a vicious attack on Chiwenga two months later, which was interpreted as an indication that the two had reconciled.
Tagwirei’s backers went to town with the image the two hugging each other at the Zanu PF conference held in Mutare from October13 to 18.
Mutsvangwa said he was not backing any horse in the succession race.
“I have absolutely no dog in the succession fight,” he said.
“My over-riding task being defending H.E (Mnangagwa) and defending his game-changing economic legacy.
“He is the Deng Xiaoping of Zimbabwe as we embrace the 21st Century as belonging to Africa.”
